Dell Inspiron 1520 Fan Upgrade?

Hi Guys,

I am an enthusiast who is determined to upgrade his old beloved Dell 1520.

After reading a great tread by Mihael Keehl [ http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...piron-1520-viable-after-market-upgrades.html] I was "Inspired" to get busy upgrading my laptop - just like a hobby

I am wondering is there a way I can upgrade the fan and add more TDP (I think the current fan is equivalent to 35 Watt, I am looking for 45 Watt +)? I used "i8kfangui" to control my fan and optimize its on/off rhythm, but I would like to get a new CPU and my choice needs 44 Watt (for x9000).

Is there a more powerful fan that can fit?

Currently I am starting a long term experiment of my own, where I am not looking for the economically viable or rational choice but rather pursuing reaching the maximum out of 1520. Currently my system is in the lower end of the series and is using the Intel Celeron M540 in combination with an integrated video card Mobile Intel 965 Ex. Ch. Family. I am looking to buy old laptops where the video card (which being either GeForce 8400M GS or 8600M GT, extremely unreliable) has died so I can get spare parts and motherboard for my new configuration.

Any advices and opinions are welcome Thank you!

 

Actually,TDP is the maximum heat expelled by the CPU,not the maximum amount of air the fan can expel.That's actually called the CFM,and it would be around 5 in your laptop(it's 5 in my vostro 1510).Your fan would probably handle the extra heat,and if it doesn't,you can always use ThrottleStop to undervolt(has a serious drop in temperature,much more than I was expecting).And if your current build already overheats(kind of unlikely),you ought to consider removing the built-up dust.
P.S.IMO,don't get either of those cards.They are likely to fail(as I notice you've mentioned).I didn't believe mine would fail either,but one fine day,out of the blue it just went poof.
Hope this helps

 

Btw,I can't access your link.It says HTTP 404-Link not found.

 

To answer the original question, the way these fans are made, it's highly unlikely you're going to find another fan that fits the 1520 that isn't already a 1520 fan. Even then, if you find such a fan, it's even more unlikely that it will have a significantly higher CFM.

So no.

Just undervolt your X9000 as much as you can, and hopefully it will be fine. Or just get a T93/500 instead.

 

Sorry for the link, hope this one works : Dell 1520 Viable After Market Upgrades

Thank you both for the advice, I will use the "Undervolting" Guide and post back with results as soon as I get the x9000. It might take a month or two for that

I've always kept the fan clean and running, so currently I don't have overheating problems. The processor (Intel Celeron M540) runs between 40 and 55°C when loaded. I made a short test just an hour ago, by loading the CPU with ORTHOS for 15 min and simultaneously forcing the fan to its maximum with I8kfanGUI. I got the temperature idle at 54-56°C, with almost all the time running at 55°C.

Considering that x9000 has 0.26% higher TDP does that mean I will be looking at 69.3°C with it? I know some other variables have to be accounted for, so I will try to put them in.

The current thermal paste is very....very....very old and so inefficient. I already have ordered the AS5 and will apply it as soon as it gets here, but for the sake of experiment lets say there is no thermal paste on the CPU.

The second variable is I guess whether x9000 is overclocked. Do you know whether that matters? Is the extra heat accounted for in the given TDP of 44 Watts?

And third, the new video card, 8600M GT, might be running hotter than the current integrated one. I dont know to what extend though, as it has a separate heat sink, which shares the same fan with the CPU's sink. Now the CPU and video chip use the same heat sink.

Do you think the fan can handle the load? I don't mind the noise, and I will obviously be gaming (very rarely, only retro games ) using a cooling pad.


EDIT: I found a video of a Dell Vostro 1500 with x9000 and integrated video card.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKKTge92z14

The temperature of x9000 is around 60°C here, guess the thermal paste and undervolting did their job well.

I assume his fan is the same as mine. This means my only problem will be the GPU...and eventually the overclocking. Any ideas on that?

PS: Sorry for the mess, I am a newbie I guess I'll need to do some more reading.

 

I did some research on your cpu,and it looks like it has a 533mhz fsb.I don't think this really matters,but you're considering getting a 800Mhz fsb cpu......so there's a very little chance your memory might get overclocked as well.How much RAM do you have?And can you use CPU-Z and tell what clock speed it's running at right now?About the X9000,it uses a newer 45nm fab.process,so it won't get too hot,so it's not a problem.But about the 8600m gt,it gets a WHOLE lot hotter than the 8400m gs,which in turn runs hotter than the intel x3100.....it might overheat,depending on your cooling system.But then,you might as well go the whole run,because I found the performance of the 8400m gs to be unsatisfactory,even when overclocked to 600/1500(which is a lot more than most people get on the shaders)[It's one of the worst video cards I've ever seen at stock speeds].The 8600m gt(overclocked to 8700m speeds)should be very good,as I saw on my friend's pc.......AFAIK it doesn't lag at all.

 

Currently the system is with 1GB of RAM, 2x512 Samsung DDR2, PC2-5300, max bandwidth 333MHz. Under Memory tab in the DRAM Frequency field it shows 266MHz, which using FSB/DRAM ratio gives the 533MHz that the CPU is running at.

I am planning of course to get it to 6GB, 1x2GB = 1x4GB, which is the maximum it can handle. Correct me if I am wrong but there shouldn't be any problem with the FSB speed, as long as I get the right RAM that works at 800MHz or even higher, as it will be automatically downclocked. I have to trust the experts that x9100 cant fit because it is FSB 1066MHz, although I'd like them to be wrong

I guess the video proved that x9000 is perfectly suitable. However the guy was with integrated graphics and not 8400m gs/8600m gt.

I believe you are right about the temp scale x3100-8400m gs-8600m gt and this is the reason I want to tweak the fan. The two graphics cards are unreliable because something is wrong with their heat resistance. As far as I could dig in on the web, Nvidia messed up at the materials that they put in. So heat is my enemy and I want to get the system as cool as it gets.

Not that spending 25$ a year to replace the broken 8600m gt is a problem, [ seems reliable] its just that it aint right to keep a stove in you hands all the time

Can you tell me what temperatures does the overclocked 8600m gt run at? Is your friends laptop a 1520?

 

I haven't overclocked my GPU because of the natural built flaw in the 8600M GT, I have 2 spare GPUs lying around the house (1 x 8400M GS and 1 x 8600M GT) in case this goes bad. I saw what happened with the XPS M1530 and haven't really done anything to my video card aside from taking it out and putting a new one in.

I'm happy, I was able to get almost 6 years out of my Dell Inspiron 1520 but to answer you original question, it isn't worth the effort to find a suitable fan that you may or may not be able to fit into the box. I would recommend other means to cool your device, such as I use this and suspend the back-end of my laptop with this.

Here's a few pictures of what I have set up:

​

You can buy both of these items from eBay ( Kensington Dock w/Stand and Antec Notebook Cooler) and they are guaranteed to work,l especially with this model of laptop, you may not notice a difference during the winter, but in the summer time it pays dividends. I have tried numerous other cooling options but this was by far the best I could have hoped for.

 

Get atleast 1066Mhz RAM......if you feel like overclocking it would come in useful.My friend actually has an 8700M GT(which is an o/ced 8600m gt)in a Precision M6300(very good cooling system,if the fans were to be put at full speed).
That day,it was raining heavily outside,and the a/c was set to full blow,so the ambient temperatures were around 20-22c.I think the max we reached with FurMark(with an oc to about 750/1600) was about 72-73c(maybe prime95 was running too,but the fans weren't running anywhere close to full speed[plus,he's never opened his laptop before,so it was probably dusty and stuff]).I think the v.v.max you can get is 90c.But IMO,you'll get in the 70s or low 80s if you keep your fan at high,even if the system is fully loaded.
@Mihael Kheel
You do know that overclocking has very little effect on the flaw,right?And you can fix it temporarily when it fails.I didn't touch my 8400m gs till it failed,but after that I've kept it almost constantly overclocked,and I don't notice much of a difference in how long it lasts before it fails again,even when I kept it overclocked to 600/1500,which is almost a 50% increase on the whole card.P.S.Doesn't connecting things to the cooling fan slightly reduce the effectiveness?

 

I'm not sure, perhaps you might have found some other way but to my knowledge, the 1520 does not support 1066MHz RAM sticks, at best I believe the most you can put is PC2-6400 (800MHz) which will also get down-clocked to PC2-5300 sticks. I don't think I've seen anyone use 1066MHz on here, I've scoured mostly every thread, unless you've had some success with it, please do share. At the moment, I have a 4GB stick (PC2-5300) and a 2GB stick (PC2-5300) both of which run at 667 MHz.

As for the graphics card, I'm not sure about the effects but I haven't really found an easy-to-use tutorial to help me in this endeavor. I'd give it a shot, if there was an easy-to-follow instructions and it didn't require too much hardware-based manipulation. If you know of some method to do this, I'd definitely look into it, I have the 8600M GT, but I am still a bit touchy about messing with it due to what I've seen with the M1530. I heard the fault was within the design of the 8600M GT and the company actually tried to hide it.

Well, it all depends on how you look at it, I have one usb-wire in the laptop which supports all of my other support devices (aside from the mouse). That includes my printer, external camera, external hard-drives and the external twin-fan actually sucks the air underneath my laptop and pushes it out underneath/towards the bottom and sides of it it. The fan which comes with the laptop, actually pushes air out to the side, so they compliment each other really well.

For me, I can notice definitive drops in temperatures when I'm not using the fan and only suspending it in the air (via the kensington dock), the average temperature rises approximately 7-8 degrees. It makes an abundant difference, especially in the summer, during the winter, not as much and I could probably do without suspending or even using the cooling-pad because the difference is about 1-2 degrees best-case-scenario.

Without the cooler and the dock suspension, my laptop's temperature:

CPU: 49-50 (57-60 under load)
HDD: 44-45 (shifts in between two randomly)
GPU: 60

With cooler/dock suspension combo, my laptop's temperature:

CPU: 39-40
HDD: 38
GPU: 55

In the winter time, my laptop average temperature is sternly around 35-36 for the CPU, 34-35 for the HDD and 50 for the GPU. These rough estimates as, I cannot recreate a winter-like scenario at my place so I have to do these off memory. Anyway, if you do have that guide for the overclocking gpu, I don't mind attempting it.

 

@Mihael Kheel
I wasn't sure whether the inspiron 1520 would support 1066mhz ram,I thought it would just downclock to 800mhz(because they're both pc2,right?).But if the max. the 1520 supports is 667mhz(same as in my vostro),I guess the max he could overclock to would be 800.My mistake if it doesn't support 1066mhz ram.

I don't understand what you mean by you haven't found an easy guide......for overclocking the gpu or the fix in case it fails?I didn't mess with my 8400m gs till it failed either,so I can understand you being cautious,but if it's any help my friend with the 8700m gt(same as 8600m gt)has had his laptop for longer than me,and even though he pushed it very far,it didn't die on him.That's probably because he usually uses a cooler most of the time.But if you can keep your gpu temps so low(way lower than my friend's),IMO there's very little chance of a problem(unless one of your chips have died before?I feel it starts being problematic at >70c).

Anyway,if you're looking for info how to overclock it,both me and my friend(both 8-series cards)have used XtremeTuner.I think he once had a problem with that though,so he started using the NVIDIA System Tools(which isn't as good).If you're looking for how to (temporarily,maybe longer in your case),just inform me and I'll tell you what you need to do.

 

Well, according to Intel you cant go beyond 4GB RAM, and Michael obviously has 6GB. Unfortunately on the issue of RAM frequency there is no documented experiment on the web which confirms or overrules overclocking to 800MHz.

[ An interesting tread, hopeless thou...]

I bought 2x1GB Corsair sticks 4 years ago [Not sure whether PC2-5300 or PC2-6400, I would bet it was 6400] and after changing and successfully completing diagnostics I started getting BSOD screens very frequently. I changed back to my 2x512MB PC2-5300s and everything was fine. This sticks are back home and I will get my hands on them in August.

It seems strange that the Intel GM965 Express Chipset works with PC2-4200(533MHz) / PC2-5300(667MHz) and will run PC2-6400(800MHz) at 667MHz although it supports FSB 800MHz...I dont have much time now, but as soon as August comes I will either report success or post pictures of a 1520 on fire. :yes:

I got 4°C off the CPU with AS5. With the same stress test I posted above the temp was at 51-52°C. Considering that I was reading 65-67°C idle before using I8kfunGUI and AS5 that's quite an improvement I tried undervolting just to get used to it but RMClock doesn't let me - m540 cant be undervolted.

Thanks to Michael's detailed description and tranquilbarley's help I now know why Commander Wolf is right and there is no point in wasting effort...the 1520 fan will handle the cooling when I'm on the way. As for retro gaming I'll have to get Michael's cooling pad.

Thanks guys, I'll post results when I get the parts...

 

@Mihael Kheel : any update on overclocking your 8600m gt?

 

I haven't tried yet, but will do it when I get the chance (maybe in a few days) I have an exam on Tuesday so I'll be booked til then. I will share my results with you guys, just wanted to know, XtremeTuner right?

 

hi,

im new to the forums. im also an inspiron 1520 user and was interested in the overclocking of the 8600m gt.

has any1 got any news on this?